A Keep on the Borderlands: Consolidation

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Villager

Gritting his teeth against the teeth in his shoulder, Sh'aah steps up and slams his axe into the snake creature. The followup from his left is less effective - wafting harmlessly against the air. Something about being bitten in the shoulder inhibits the movement on his left side...

Villager

Arcata looks startled at the resistance of the snake thing to her magic...it's an unpleasant surprise. She'd been rather counting on her ability to provide ranged support with her spells. Without the precision of her missiles...it was going to be dicey.

The toll the snake-things take on the defenders sets her jaw though. They were risking everything; so could she!

She incants, building up power. Blue fire ignites in her hands, and a shard of pure force materializes between her palms. With a cry of defiance, she hurls the bolt at the same snake she hit before, and her eyes shine blue on blue with the reflected light of the spell's fury!

But the monster's resistance was equally furious! While the spell did burrow through, only a fraction of its force was left by the time it did!

Arcata was left wide-eyed, breathing hard, working her fingers nervously.

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OOC: Have a look under the Play By Post Links part of my sig, there should be a KOTB section. The characters started as 2nd level and I think everyone levelled after taking the keep. Will update this combat later on this week, I think it's my turn to roll for all the dwarves!

Villager

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The dwarves follow Bastian's orders and move the best they can to flank the flying snakes. Those nearest to the cavalier do the best, their axes cutting into the unnatural flesh of the strange creatures. The others, including Rexun, have less effect and the two dwarves at the edge of the cavern fire crossbows but both miss.

The horrors counterattack, but only one is successful, taking another dwarf out of the fight. Sh'aah ducks under the terrible maw as it closes near his head.

Bastian misses, but Sh'aah is horribly effective and, as the captured dwarf attempts to wriggle free from the clutches of the horror, Arcata's magic missiles strike the creature and it vanishes. The dwarf drops to the floor, looking surprised and grateful. Meanwhile, Menexes the Copper Dwarf, Cassie and Fyfe move past Arcata towards the fray.

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Comoray - Bless. This catches everyone apart from Fyfe and dwarf #8 (these two are in the area but they move up later).

Adventurer

With three dwarves down now, one snake gone and the two others looking not much the worse for wear, Comoray changes his plan slightly and moves down to invoke the healing power of Velshionne to deliver his allies from their wounds.

OOC: Move down to between D1 and D3, which I think gets me in position to catch all the fallen dwarves in Channel Energy: 2d6=5 .

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Two of the wounded dwarves get back to their feet after Comoray heals them, one remains on the floor. The dwarf that was recently freed from the clutches of one of the flying horrors is also healed of his injuries.

Menexes utters some commands in dwarven and the dwarves that are currently not engaged reposition themselves. Two take up a flanking guard on the tunnel entrance, the rest draw axes and move to attack the horrors. Menexes himself moves up beside Rexun, helping flank the flying snake.

The snakes bob and weave in the air under the combined assault of dwarven axes, but only one of them shows any sign of damage, and very little at that.

Cassie and Fyfe move into the cavern.

"Orders, my lady?" Cassie asks Arcata.

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Comoray heals 5 damage to dwarves 2, 4, 6 and 7. All but D6 are up and at full strength.
Basically movement and misses from the dwarves, except:

Villager

Sh'aah blinked in surprise as the snake creature vanished. Magic! he thought impatiently. Already he could practically smell the magic swirling around the cavern, mingling with blood and sweat. Between the smells and the flashing light of Arcata's magical attacks, Sha'aah lost himself somewhere in a deeply buried racial memory.

Shouting obscenities, he raced forward and swung his double axe in an unsubtle overheard arc at another of the magical creatures. If the thing could see it would no doubt evade easily...

Community Supporter

Sh'aah and Bastian charge at the dark snake creatures and cut into their unnatural bodies. Such is the ferocity of both their attacks that they garb the attention of the horrors, which lash out at them. Bastian's armour protects him, but Sh'aah is injured by fangs seemingly made of solidified night.

Villager

Perhaps her concerns are unwarranted though. She sends another blast of raw magic at the wounded snake-thing, and the pair of projectiles spark and crackle with flashes and little POPS like festday firecrackers...and then blast through the resistance these things have and strike deeply into their tainted flesh!

Adventurer

While the situation with the serpents seems to be well in hand, Comoray figures that the sooner they go down the better. Plenty of soldiers are near enough the tunnel to refocus their efforts there if he charges the serpent to the south; which he does. At least he will provide a further flank...

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Arcata's magic strikes the nearest dark sperpent. Comoray's attack bounces off its hide with a shower of sparks. The dwarves lay into the hovering monsters with axes, all expcet one who pulls his fallen comrade from the fray. Some blows land and cut deep, others seem to bounce off the surface as Comoray's attack did. Yet others go wild.

Meanwhile there are sounds of stomping feet and rattling armour from down the corridor. Cassie steps protectively in front of Arcata and draws her crossbow on the tunnel entrance.

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Sorry about the delay - never seems to stop being busy at the moment!

Arcata - magic missile vs H2 for 7 damage
Comoray - attack H3, miss

I won't enumerate all the dwarf attacks - there are two hits to H2 that cause a total of 9 damage and two hits on H3 that cause 0 damage after damage reduction. The rest of the attacks miss.

Villager

Arcata expends some of her waning magical power to send another pair of bolts spiraling at the wounded snake monster...but she was perhaps overoptimistic. The force protecting the serpents rises up and crackles, and her missiles explode harmlessly against that shielding.

She swears under her breath. One more spell...she could use it to defend herself, or to attack. After that, she'd be down to just the little magicks that cost her nothing to cast.

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Sh'aah's axe bites deep, but something about the otherwordly substance of the shadowy snakes seems to take away some of the force of his attacks. Nevertheless, the creature looks ragged and worn, and its attacks against the half-orc are sluggish and easily evaded.

Meanwhile, as Arcata's magic slides off it, Bastian further damages the snake that he faces, but it is in better shape than the one surrounded by Sh'aah's team despite a good solid strike with his sword in a two-handed grip.